June 1, 2013

The Key to Wealth: Swimming Lessons

After reading in the news that an “Illegal immigrant mother of seven is given food stamps, meds, housing, and Social Security—for 20 years”, Bob and Sally, who were living in Toledo, made a bold move. They hitchhiked to Texas, crossed the border into Mexico, swam back across the Rio Grande, and applied for federal benefits.

“Little did we know how rich we’d become”, Sally said. “Our government counsellor told us we were suddenly eligible for $700 a month and free housing. For the rest of our lives.” But that was just the beginning of the story. “You see”, Bob said, “sitting there across from our federal-aid counsellor, still dripping wet from our swim back into the US, I realized she was talking about giving Sally and me roughly five million dollars over the course of our lives.”

Bob proposed an alternative payout plan. Francine Baggit, their counsellor, was amazed as she listened. “Bob explained that if we paid them the whole sum at once, they could invest it. I personally wrote a letter to the president, and two weeks later I almost fell off my chair when he called me at home and agreed.”

Bob and Sally Craft have now written a book. Overnight, it’s leaped to the top of the New York Times best-seller list: The Key to Wealth: Swimming Lessons - order it here - , which has triggered a mass exodus, temporary to be sure, from the US into Mexico. At last count, the Department of Homeland Security, who is supervising what they’re calling ‘Operation Red Sea’, estimates that 150 million Americans are making their way to the Mexican border in Texas, California, Arizona, and New Mexico.

Now I don't want to cause a similar exodus from Australia by writing a book on how to handle leaky boats, but I think Bob and Sally have made their point.